


Endless Night

by tfm



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Gen, Not Beta Read, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 07:55:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18734821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tfm/pseuds/tfm
Summary: Someone has to hold the cave entrance to make sure the monsters don't get out.Beau volunteers.So does Yasha.





	Endless Night

 

Beau stood with her feet planted firmly on the rocky ground, waiting for the monsters to come.

 

The cave was so quiet that she might as well have been alone, and more than once, Beau looked back to make sure that Yasha was still standing behind her, Magician’s Judge at the ready. They were the ones that had drawn the short straws.

 

But no. That wasn’t true at all.

 

For some reason, they had volunteered for this.

 

It had started with Fjord saying, “I think we need to leave some people behind to guard the entrance.” The entrance that led back to the outside world, the entrance that was the only thing that stood between a cave full of infinite monsters and escaping to said outside world.

 

Caduceus had _Stone Shaped_ the entrance over, but they knew from experience that that wouldn’t hold forever.

 

There was some argument then, saying that they shouldn’t split the party, that the monsters might not even find the entrance, but then they’d been set on by wave after wave of creature, which seemed to settle that point.

 

Jester had been the one to suggest boulder, parchment, shears, to see who stayed behind, but Beau had pointed out that it would be...well, pointless.

 

“Caleb almost just killed us with a _Fireball_ ,’ she’d said. Caleb had looked guilty then, which in turn made Beau feel guilty for having brought it up. “This cave is ten feet across, max. If anyone stays, it needs to be melee fighters.”

 

“Are you volunteering?” Nott asked, shrewdly. Beau shrugged.

 

“Yeah, why not.”

 

That was how Beau got there.

 

“You can’t do it alone,” Yasha had said.

 

And that was how Yasha got there.

 

Another time Beau might have felt a little flushed at the idea that Yasha had volunteered to stay behind and have her back. Realistically, though, she knew it had less to do with Beau, and more to do with protecting the rest of the party.

 

Still.

 

They’d taken out three waves of monsters so far, most of them little more than nuisances. The last wave, though, some had gotten a few lucky hits in; Beau had a nice long scratch along her arm, and Yasha had taken one or two shots to the ribs.

 

It had been twenty minutes since the Mighty Nein had left.

 

It was likely, Beau thought, that they would be gone hours, if not longer. The whole purpose was to shut down whatever device was causing the utter fuckton of monsters to be pealing out onto the streets.

 

They had been told of a secret passageway through the caves that – hopefully – the monsters hadn’t found. If the rest of the Nein played their cards right, they wouldn’t need to fight anything at all.

 

Which, Beau thought, was probably a good thing. Because she and Yasha would almost definitely need healing come the end of this night, if the first twenty minutes was anything to go by.

 

In the middle distance, Beau heard something coming. Her perception wasn’t as good as Caduceus’s, but it was better than Yasha’s.

 

‘Incoming,’ she said. Out of the corner of her eye, she heard Yasha shift position. Maybe readjust her grip on the sword. Fix her warpaint.

 

‘I’m ready,’ Yasha said, and she sounded it.

 

This round lasted about a minute. A dozen or so creatures, most of which seemed to fall in a one or two hits from Beau’s fists. They weren’t strong, but they were persistent. Sometimes, persistence was enough. If they went at it long enough, something was eventually going to punch through.

 

It wasn’t the one or two getting past them that was the problem. The problem was if they both went down, and the swarms started going through.

 

After two hours, Beau was starting to get a little tired. Her shots missed as often as they hit, and she had badly misjudged a dodge and taken a set of talons across her stomach. Once the last body fell, Yasha examined the wound, and went to use her healing hands.

 

‘No!’ Beau said, quickly. Yasha pulled back, concerned.

 

‘What is it?’

 

‘Nothing, it’s just—we could be here for hours yet. Save it for when we really need it, yeah?’

 

Yasha seemed to consider the point. Then, she nodded. ‘Alright.’ Instead, Beau rummaged through her bag for the healing kit, and wrapped the wound. It wouldn’t do much, but it might stop her from bleeding out.

 

‘You know,’ Yasha said, after the next round of demons. Her nose was bleeding profusely, and she looked as tired as Beau felt. The ground was littered with bodies. ‘I think we may need to start taking this in shifts.’

 

Beau didn’t want to agree. She didn’t want to leave Yasha on her own against these things at any point. To her credit, Yasha seemed to feel the same way. But if they were going to last through the night, they would have to start working in shifts.

 

‘Boulder, parchment, shears?’ Beau said, before promptly losing the first round. Neither of them moved. ‘Losing means I take first shift, right?’

 

‘Yes, first resting shift,’ Yasha said. Beau eyed her, stubbornly. Really, she didn’t think there would be that much in the way of resting going on. At most, all she managed was about ten minutes of simply catching her breath.

 

In that time, Yasha slaughtered a dozen or so of the creatures that came in yet another wave, and Beau watched, breathing heavily, as they fell to the ground.

 

‘Alright,’ she said, after that wave had finished. She stood, and patted Yasha on the shoulder. ‘Your turn.’

 

‘It’s only been ten minutes,’ Yasha said, frowning.

 

‘Yeah, I’m good to go,’ Beau said. All of a sudden, though, she heard a voice in her head. Jester’s voice. _Hey Beau, it’s me, Jester. Things are taking a little longer than we thought because we ran into a pit of zombies, are you guys—_

 

The message ended there. Beau couldn’t help but grin. Jester always had trouble getting the word limit down pat. Still, she could guess that there was supposed to be an “okay” in there at the end.

 

‘Hey Jes, we’re hanging in there. Killin’ lots of monsters.’ She paused. ‘I think we can hold out, but the sooner you guys are done, the better.’ She thought that was around about twenty-five.

 

The moment the words had left her mouth she heard the now familiar sounds of another wave. Snarls, and footsteps, and the beating of wings. ‘Ready?’ she asked Yasha, who had listened to her reply to Jester without a single comment. They were both too tired for unnecessary talking.

 

Yasha did not argue, but did not seem pleased at the idea of taking a rest. Her rage had long since run out, and she was moving forward, like Beau, on sheer stubbornness. Not that Beau had ever considered Yasha to be stubborn. Not in that sort of way. Not in the way that people called her stubborn.

 

‘Y’know, it’s alright to let people take care of you,’ Beau said, and Yasha’s expression turned to one of surprise.

 

‘I am fine with letting people take care of me,’ she said, but offered nothing further to support her argument.

 

After the fifth hour, the monsters slowed. They were only coming every half hour, instead of every ten minutes. Beau was down to her last legs, and Yasha….well, Yasha was a lot hardier than Beau was, but even she was starting to look a little worn down.

 

Beau wondered if that meant that the rest of the party had succeeded, that what they were fighting now was the last remnants that had made it through before the portal shut down. It was another hour before the next wave came, and there was barely a dozen of them.

 

After that, there was nothing.

 

They had been resting in between rounds for a while now, and Beau was starting to drift off. Her body ached, and her wounds smarted, and bled through her vestiges. She barely had the awareness to say no when Yasha put a hand to her chest, and used her single healing spell.

 

The bleeding slowed, but didn’t stop, which was as much as Beau could have asked for. Really, she would have preferred Yasha use it on herself, but it was pointless to get into a dick-measuring contest about who could be more protective.

 

It took them a little while to realise that the monsters had stopped coming. ‘I think,’ Beau said, slowly, gritting with pain as each word that escaped her body tugged on broken ribs, ‘We might be able to chance some sleep.’

 

‘I’ll take first watch.’ Beau grinned. They’d both managed to get the words out at the exact same time.

 

‘Boulder, parchment, shears again?’ Yasha said.

 

‘You know, you still haven’t showed me the Xhorhasian way to play it,’ Beau commented, as she, once again, lost. Or won, depending on how you looked at it.

 

Even as she leaned her head into Yasha’s shoulder, she knew that the barbarian would not wake her when the watch was done.

 

…

 

The ground was littered with bodies. Hundreds of them – maybe even thousands. All the ones that they had avoided by going through the secret tunnel instead of the main passageway.

 

‘Beau?’ Fjord called out, almost afraid of what the response might be. ‘Yasha?’ The trip into the heart of the cave to close the portal had taken longer than they had anticipated.

 

The “secret tunnel” had, as it turned out, been not quite as secret as anticipated, and they had encountered a whole bunch of the monsters coming from the portal. Enough that what should have been a quick trip had taken hours, and a lot of battles.

 

But, they were all alive.

 

At least, everyone that had been there to close the portal was alive. Beau and Yasha? Well, jury was still out.

 

‘ _Mein gott_ ,’ Caleb muttered, as they waded – literally waded, the corpses were piled so high in some parts – through the sea of bodies. Fjord knew what he had meant. What they had dealt with seemed like child’s play in comparison to this.

 

‘There they are,’ Caduceus said, gesturing to the far side of the cave. Beau and Yasha, neither of them conscious, leaned up against the rocky wall of the cave. Beau was leaned into Yasha’s chest, her body splayed out across the cold dirt ground. They were both covered in blood.

 

Fjord almost ran towards them, and noticed Jester, and Nott, and Caleb doing the same. Caduceus, though, with his long firbolg legs, got their first. He looked them over, with the patience of a healer.

 

‘They’re not unconscious,’ Caduceus said, and Fjord could have sworn there was a smile on his face. ‘They’re asleep. Just as well. I’m tapped out.’

 

‘Me too,’ Jester said, and Fjord could see the wave of relief washing through her.

 

‘Caleb, can ya put the bubble up?’

 

‘ _Ja,_ I can do that,’ Caleb agreed. He had a long cut from his forehead down to his shoulder, tearing through his coat. They all looked a little worse for wear, but none as much as Beau and Yasha did, covered in what Fjord hoped was the blood of all the monsters that they had killed. It was times like this they could of used a little of old Pumat Sol’s _Prestidigitation_.

 

Jester and Nott cleared a space in amongst all of the bodies. Though they tried to do it quietly, a few bangs and scrapes still echoed across the cavern. Even still, the two were so heavily asleep that they didn’t rouse.

 

‘Should we have someone on watch?’ Nott asked, and the question was met with a general air of despair. They were all tired enough that the prospect of watch was not welcome, and in the end, they decided that the silver thread surrounding the dome, and Frumpkin’s watchful eye would be enough.

 

Hopefully, they were right.

 

Fjord didn’t even bother to lay out his bedroll before lying down. He was asleep before he’d even fully shut his eyes.

 

...

Beau blinked herself into consciousness, vaguely aware that her head was resting on something that was very much human-shaped. Or humanoid shaped. It was dark enough that she couldn’t see shit, but that didn’t mean much. They were still inside the cave, so it could have been any time of the day or night.

 

Then, the pillow shifted beneath her, making a familiar sort of groan.

 

Yasha.

 

‘Beau?’ came her concerned, exhausted, amazing voice. The last Beau remembered, they had been surrounded by bloodthirsty demons. What had happened after that?

 

‘Yeah, I’m here,’ Beau groaned, and tried to sit up. Everything ached beyond measure.

 

‘You’re awake!’ came a third voice; a bright, bubbly, tiefling sort of voice.

 

‘Jester?’ Beau and Yasha spoke at the same time. Beau hadn’t realized that the rest of the group had returned. How had she managed to sleep through that? She was about to lower the goggles when she heard another voice, and a familiar sounding incantation.

 

Four bright dancing lights suddenly lit the inside of the dome, which Beau now realized was protecting them against the outside world. Not that they needed it anymore, apparently; if the rest of the Mighty Nein had returned, it meant that their mission had been successful, and the portal was closed.

 

‘We got back, and you were asleep, and we didn’t want to wake you, but man, all those things you guys killed. There must be hundreds of bodies out there. That’s so _cool_.’

 

Beau couldn’t help but crack a smile. ‘It is pretty cool,’ she admitted. ‘But man, it was fucking _exhausting_.’

 

‘Oooh,’ Jester said, as though just remembering. ‘It’s morning! I have my spells back.’ Immediately, she put a hand to Beau’s shoulder, and let the magic flow through her touch. Almost instantly, Beau felt the wounds at her stomach, and her arms and her shoulder begin to knit themselves back together. The roar of pain receded to an itchy sort of ebb.

 

‘Oh, that feels amazing.’ Beau gave a sigh of relief. ‘Thanks Jester.’

 

The cleric moved around to do the same to Yasha, who had taken far more hits than Beau, and yet somehow seemed to be in better shape. There was something to be said about being a six foot tall barbarian whose body was a brick wall.

 

‘So what happened?’ Jester asked, conversationally. ‘Did you like...scream and yell and just spend all night killing monsters?’

 

‘How’s about we get out of here before swapping stories,’ Fjord suggested, and Beau was inclined to agree. Not that the previous evening had been particularly traumatic, but it had been exhausting enough when it happened without having to relive it.

 

Slowly and painstakingly, they got their gear together, and exited the cave, Caduceus _Stone Shaping_ their way back through. Outside, the morning sunlight pierced Beau’s eyes, making her head spin.

 

She took a few brief moments to appreciate the fact that she was alive, while the rest of the group walked ahead.

 

Not quite the rest of the group, she realized, suddenly noticing Yasha standing by her side.

 

‘Hey,’ Beau said. It seemed painfully inadequate after what they had gone through together the previous night.

 

‘Beau.’ Yasha put a hand on Beau’s shoulder. The touch was like electricity arcing through her body. ‘I’m glad you’re okay.’

 

Beau blinked. From Yasha, that was practically a declaration of undying love. ‘Me too,’ she said, and winced. ‘I mean...I’m glad you’re okay, too.’ It was awkward in the way that every single conversation over the last six months that she’d had with Yasha had been awkward.

 

It was kind of hilarious that the least awkward conversations they ever had were the mid battle ones. Maybe because they were too hyped up on adrenaline to stop and overthink things.

 

‘Long night, though, huh?’ Beau said. Yasha didn’t answer straight away, and when she did, it was with her cryptic, Yashay sort of way.

 

‘Yes, it was.’

 

Beau paused. There was a confession she wanted to make that was maybe only borderline flirty, and if she didn’t say it now, then she would never say it.

 

‘Still, if I had to die with anyone at my side...I mean, I would have been alright if it was with you.’ Then, she walked ahead to catch up with the rest of the Mighty Nein, knowing that whatever answer Yasha gave, it wouldn’t be one that Beau would want to hear.

 

When she fell into step behind Jester, she could have sworn she heard the softest of words from behind her, as if for no-one else but Beau to hear them.

 

‘Me too.’


End file.
